Gurugram, April 11 (IANS) A 61-year-old woman in Manesar was allegedly duped of Rs 2 crore on the pretext of Customs clearance for gift items like an iPhone, artificial jewellery, watch etc. by her social media friend, the police said on Tuesday.
The victim, Sunita Kapagunta, alleged in her police complaint that in December 2022, she had received a friend request from a man who introduced himself as a British Airways pilot.
“On December 5, the man told me that he had some surprise gifts items like an iPhone, artificial jewellery, a watch, accessories and cash and asked for my address and phone number,” she told the police.
The scamster told the woman that he would send the package to her if she could pay him Rs 35,000, which she did.
Thereafter, the woman received a call from another person posing as an airport authority official, asking her to pay a penalty of Rs 1 lakh, the police said.
On the fraudster’s assurance of getting the penalty money back, she transferred Rs 95,000. Sometime later, he again called the woman and asked her to pay another Rs 2 lakh for a certificate required for currency exchange from USD to INR, thus duping the woman again.
On December 9, she received an SMS from another number claiming to be from ‘United Nations Anti-Terrorist Department’, saying that she had to get a clearance form for the package, for which she had to pay.
The woman said she was forced to take a loan against all her jewellery from Muthoot Finance and the scammers forced her to transfer that loan amount as well.
The woman then transferred Rs 35 lakh from her account and also sold her property to arrange for Rs 50 lakh more. She even borrowed Rs 24.5 lakh from her relatives, the police said.
“I had to pay more so I withdrew money from my joint account with my son, and when my son was alerted of the withdrawal, he called me to inquire about the matter. He was shocked to find that I was duped of almost Rs 2 crore,” the complainant told the police.
Based on the woman’s complaint, a case of cheating and under the IT Act has been registered at the cyber crime police station, Manesar.
–IANS
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